Are you tired of messing around with all those prim-, sculpted- or mesh teeth that might look really great by themselves, but turns out to be a major pain in the b**tt when you try to fit them in the mouth?
I've had that problem with all the teeth I've bought over the years. The problem is that the classic avatar facial animation setup isn´t very well optimized when it comes to adding extra objects in the mouth. Especially when the teeth-object needs to cover the original teeth at the same time, resulting in a VERY limited space for the teeth to work within.
There are quite a few facial animation HUDs at the Marketplace, with a hard-coded set amount of facial animations. Some of the HUDs even allows a player to go creative by combining two or more animations, creating unique expressions, but often it turns out that what looks good when you uses the "Open mouth" animation, results in disappointment when your expensive teeth sticks out right through your lower lip when you try another single or combined animation, making you look like a n00b all over again.
Another well-used way to try to work around this unfortunate fact might be to edit one´s facial look, trying to create enough space in the mouth for the object-teeth, thus trying to prevent the fangs from sticking out right through the skin, but sacrificing their avatar´s original prefered look in the process.
Alot of players surrenders, taking these obstacles as a proof that there´s nothing to do about the problem, and so they stop using facial animations altogether, which is truly a shame since we have so precious little possibilities to express ourselves visually in Second Life to begin with.
The major advantage with using tattoo layer teeth or fangs is that the tattoo layer works within the classic SL avatar shape tools, stretching and resizing along with the avatar´s shape. This means that the teeth always fits within the mouth (well, almost always. I guess that it might be technically possible to create the ugly teeth-that-sticks-out-through-the-skin effect if one really tries!). On top of that, these teeth uses an alpha mask layer to enhance the result, cutting away a small part of the visual textured area to make the result complete.
I hope you´ll have as much fun with these little fangs as I´ve had. This is the version that replaces the teeth beside the front teeth with small fangs.
This version is more obvious when using Facial animation HUDs, showing off the teeth in more expressions.
Both versions are quite subtle, fitting the elegant vampiric lady or gentleman. The teeth are made for vampires that can hide amongs their human prey, which means no sabre-toothed savage bad@ss werewolf canines. A Wolfman approach could perhaps work though.
- No prims, no mesh, no sculpties = no objects in your mouth = no problems!
- Resizes with your avatar when modifying its shape = Instant fit when put on.
- Uses the tattoo- and Alpha mask layers. Nothing else.
